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Thursday, March 21, 2013

Ethiopian
security forces have arrested four members of the Al-Qaeda allied Somalian
Islamist extremist group, al-Shabaab. According to the National Security and
Intelligence Agency, the militants were arrested on Friday in Moyale town near
the border with Somalia.The suspects are accused of plotting terrorist attacks
in Ethiopia’s Somali region under the assignment of al-Shabaab An Ethiopian
police source told Sudan Tribune that the suspects were planning to
attack and kidnap foreign aid workers from a camp for Somali refugeesEthiopia has been a target of attacks by
al-Shabaab militants in retaliation for its military intervention in
neighbouring Somalia Ethiopia sent its troops to strife-torn Somalia in 2006 to
help the weakened Somali government oust the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and
to battle al-Shabaab who at the time were in control of most parts of the
country. The Horn of Africa nation has been #the victim of a series of
terrorist attacks in the past seven years. Addis Ababa has repeatedly blamed
its arch-rival Eritrea for the attacks on its soil, an allegation Asmara has always
denied. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a bitter border war from 1998-2000 that
killed over 70,000 people, with the two neighbours routinely trading
accusations of helping rebels to destabilise their respective countries. In
January, Ethiopian security forces similarly arrested 15 members of an al-Qaeda
affiliated East African terrorist cell. Government officials said that the
terror suspects - who were in possession of weapons - had been trained by
al-Shabaab forces in Kenya and Somalia in order to carry out terrorist attacks.
Source (ST)